Friday, April 03, 2009

Now We're Talkin'

The indictment against Rod Blagojevich has come through, and there's more to it than there looked to be back in December. There are 16 felony counts here, which could lead to serious prison time if he's convicted. Because he probably couldn't get a contract for a TV commercial to announce he's going there, Blago and his family are reportedly already in Disney World.

The previously expected charges--which included the attempts to sell Obama's senate seat, the plan to force the Trib to fire a reporter Blago didn't like, and various shakedown efforts for "campaign contributions"--were supplemented by efforts to blackmail a Congressman (unnamed in the indictment but reputed to be Rahm Emanuel), and a long-time conspiracy with Tony Rezko and other, put into place before Blago even took office, to use the governor's office to rake in the dough that would be collected and then distributed among the participants after Blago was out of office. Take a look at the statement released by U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald's office, or take a look at the actual indictment.

Not surprisingly, Blago released a statement of his own saying that he's "saddened and hurt but . . . not surprised by the indictment." Oh, and by the way, he wants to remind us that he's innocent.